October 2 Brahms' Final Words - Hsing-ay Hsu, Piano

The opening concert of Maestro Z’s second season with SOA is filled with music that reminisces the past just as much as it celebrates music’s progress forward. One of Ravel’s earliest works, Menuet Antique, will surprise listeners with colorful musical writing blending old 18th century music styles with Ravel’s characteristic French styling. Just like Ravel’s era of French music, one of our nation’s most prominent young composers, Daniel Kellogg, is making his mark on the classical music world as one of America’s most prolific living composers. His exciting piece, Rush for Chamber Orchestra, is sure to thrill you as it moves quickly through the air. The serene and intimate Piano Concerto No. 4 is the perfect complement, featuring the brilliant pianist Hsing-ay Hsu, who is known for her amazing artistry and sublime sound. Brahms’ Symphony No. 4, a classical masterpiece, finishes the program with a work that some say reflects Brahms’ life.

November 6 Exquisite Colors - Taylor Massey, SOA Principal Clarinet

This dynamic concert shows off the expertise and skill of SOA’s string section. Opening the concert is Torke’s December, a composition rich with emotional and musical sophistication written by a composer called a “master orchestrator” whose shimmering tonal palette makes him the “Ravel of his generation” according to the New York Times. Principal SOA Clarinetist Taylor Massey will join the ensemble, performing Copland’s famous Concerto commissioned by jazz great Benny Goodman. With its exciting jazz elements, the Clarinet Concerto is considered one of the greatest pieces for the instrument. Following the concerto is a work by Estonian composer Pärt, who has said that his music is similar to light going through a prism: the music having a slightly different meaning for each listener, thus creating a spectrum of musical experience, similar to a rainbow of light. The program culminates in one of the Romantic era’s most definitive and beautiful compositions, Tchaikovsky’s Serenade.

January 22 Job Satan & God

Many great composers have successfully written music that depicts the darkest depths of a person’s soul to the jubilant and gay joie de vivre without using words. Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem is a symphonic nod to the Mass Requiem, a work that usually includes the standard libretto of the church. Ultimately a symphonic memorial for his parents, Britten’s composition initially set off an uncomfortable diplomatic exchange between the Japanese and British governments before the music was ever heard. Although not as controversial politically, Vaughan Williams’ Job: A Masque for Dancing has been called an “awe inspiring musical landscape,” based on William Blake’s Illustrations of the Book of Job. From the menacing depiction of Satan to the contentment of Job, this poignant work displays the color and drama of this epic story. In bright contrast, Percy Grainger’s Shepherd’s Hey is a light-hearted and perhaps his best-known folk song that suggests the spontaneity of players on the green.

February 19 Russian Redemption - David Kim, Violin

“Naughty Limericks” Concerto for Orchestra is a lively romp through bawdy Russian street songs. Written in 1963, the orchestra puts the gas pedal to the floor for a fun trip through a Russian town. Glazunov’s elegant and romantic Violin Concerto will highlight the robust, beautiful sound of David Kim. Currently the concertmaster for the Philadelphia Orchestra, Kim’s silvery sound and passionate playing will electrify the stage. His subtle musicality and astounding virtuosity will keep you riveted. The Russian sense of drama and bombast is at its fullest in Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. Describing the internal struggle for self in communist Russia, this work uses the full extent of SOA’s power and might in its portrait of post-Stalin Russia.

March 26 Mahler's Titan

Inspired by such icons as Elvis Presley, pink flamingo lawn ornaments, and Mattel’s Barbie™, Route 66 is an exciting and energetic musical journey down the famous highway. Phillip Glass – known for his soundtracks in The Truman Show, Notes on a Scandal, and The Hours, highlights different small sections of the orchestra in his Concerto Grosso, showing off the many varied and wonderful textures of SOA. Closing out the program, Maestro Z continues his Mahler cycle with the jubilant “Titan.” Full of childhood songs, this work evokes the sights and sounds of growing up in a German or Austrian forest. Culminating in the triumphant final movement, this symphony will make you want to stand and shout for more.

April 16 Master Works of the Great Bs

Featuring classical music’s greatest composers, this concert begins with Beethoven’s rousing Egmont Overture. Written to accompany a Goethe play, the work was popular at its introduction in 1810 and continues to be a hit today. A masterpiece blending light-hearted themes with a number of more somber themes, the Academic Festival Overture creates an auditory fireworks display by the orchestra. The program continues with one of the violin repertory’s most important works, Bach’s Chaconne from Partita No. 2, an emotionally complex work of theme and variations. Arranged for the full orchestra by Saito, this dramatic arrangement will highlight SOA’s expressive and majestic sound. Concluding the program is Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra. One of the most influential pieces of the last century, Bartok highlights the individual instruments in the orchestra as soloists. In this manner, the whole orchestra is the soloist in its own concerto.